Factory increases production, lowers defect rates
Bright Machines transformed a North American manufacturing line that produces critical and complex electronic assemblies for a major automotive manufacturer. The existing assembly and inspection line, responsible for their infotainment electronics consoles (vehicle systems that enable radio, navigation, telematics, multimedia and internet-based applications to be centrally controlled), was manual and labor-intensive, with 58 touch points that limited units produced per hour and made it difficult to reduce defect rates.
With labor costs, quality, traceability of materials and processes important metrics of their success, they realized they needed to rethink their automation strategy.
Turning to Bright Machines, the manufacturer replaced the assembly process with an automated, software-defined Bright Machines Microfactory to produce infotainment electronics consoles faster, with better yield and reduced defect rates:
- Unit production increased 33% per hour
- The new microfactory required only 25% of the human touches compared to the previous, manual process
- Defect rates reduced parts per million (PPM) by 88%
- 50% reduction in assembly-line staff
It stands as a shining example of intelligence, automation, and efficiency in a facility that manufactures components for many of the world’s largest automakers.